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SARE Research & Education
(R&E) Sample Projects
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USDA-ARS researcher Dave Horton collects insects from
pear blossoms to determine whether less frequent mowing in orchards
will attract beneficial insects to prey upon pear psylla, leaf miners
and other serious pests. Preliminary results show an increase in “natural
enemies” when mowing frequency decreases.
Photo by USDA-ARS. |
Growers Take on Pear Pests with New Orchard Mowing Regimes
Tree fruit growers seeking alternatives to broad-spectrum pesticides want
to manage orchard habitats to control insect pests, a more environmentally
friendly approach that won’t be banned by federal regulators. In Washington
state, SARE-funded research testing mowing frequency in pear orchards has
found that mowing once a month rather than two or three times a month creates
alluring habitats that attract beneficial insects, setting them up to control
pest populations. An ARS researcher partly funded by SARE ran trials at
three orchards and varied mowing frequency (weekly, monthly and just once
a season) to change the ground cover composition. The natural enemies moved
into the ground cover in greater numbers, likely attracted to the pollen
and nectar newly available from flowering plants as well as more abundant
prey, such as aphids and thrips. Researchers found more lacewing larvae,
spiders, ladybug beetles, damsel bugs, parasitoids and minute pirate bugs.
[For more information, go to www.SARE.org/projects/
and search for SW99-011 and FW97-041] 
Sales from Growers to Food Outlets Bring Goodwill, Fresh
Tastes
Universities, hospitals and restaurants have long been reluctant to purchase
food outside food service contracts, most of which guarantee that what is
dished up comes from faraway places. Trying to reverse the trend and hook
Iowa growers to some of the biggest food purchasers in northern Iowa, a
University of Iowa researcher received a SARE R&E grant to explore ways
for institutions to buy from local growers. Since then, he has assembled
an impressive list of food buyers—from a Mexican-style restaurant
to his institution, University of Northern Iowa—that buy meat, vegetables,
beans and grains from area farmers. A Waterloo, Iowa, restaurant purchased
close to $143,000 worth of Iowa products in 2001, from beef to tortillas.
Even huge food buyers like a local hospital spent $60,000 on Iowa products
once cafeteria managers saw how much their customers loved the alternative.
For every grant dollar the researcher received, the project funneled $6.50
into the regional economy. [For more information, go to www.SARE.org/projects/
and search for LNC00-166]
Cover Crops Deter Root-Damaging Nematodes in Vegetable
Systems
Responding to Maryland soybean growers who had added potatoes to their standard
cropping rotations only to experience more problems with crop-damaging nematodes,
SARE-funded University of Maryland researchers began seeking control methods.
Their treatments, co-designed and tested by area farmers, focused on planting
cover crops and adding organic soil amendments. Researchers found that planting
two years of a summer cover crop – sorghum sudangrass –combined
with poultry litter soil amendments was effective in stemming nematode populations.
The “winning” rotation: a winter small grain, followed by potatoes
or cucumbers, then a summer cover, and back to a small grain. After two
years, farmers planted soybeans following the spring potatoes. In that third
year, researchers saw a reduction in nematodes, followed by improvements
to soybean yields. [For more information, go to www.SARE.org/projects
and search for LNE00-131.]
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